U.S. upped aid to Yemen to fight al-Qaida affiliate

The United States this year has dramatically stepped up its aid to Yemen's military in an effort to uproot the group that several U.S. officials increasingly suspect was behind the attempt to send explosive devices to Chicago-area synagogues last week.

The group, an affiliate of al-Qaida known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is believed to have several hundred fighters hidden in the mountainous reaches of the country.

The group has carried out a campaign of violence against security forces and attacks on U.S. and European facilities in the Yemeni capital - and claimed responsibility for a failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a passenger jet over the United States.

"Outside of the Afghan-Pakistan area, where the al-Qaida core and senior leadership reside, I would say that the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is the most active operational franchise right now of al-Qaida," John Brennan, the assistant to the United States president for counterterrorism, said on Friday.

U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is in hiding in Yemen, has close ties to the al-Qaida group and is believed by security officials to have helped inspire the shooting rampage last November at Fort Hood, Texas, as well as Faisal Shahzad's attempted detonation of a car bomb in Times Square in May.

Al-Awlaki is the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list.

The United States has funneled some $150 million in military assistance to Yemen this year along with a similar amount for humanitarian and development aid. Some 50 U.S. military experts are in Yemen training its counterterrorism forces.

But officials say the central government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has little direct control outside the capital, San'a.

Security officials say most government forces deployed in provinces where al-Qaida militants are known to be hiding are there to protect oil installations.

Many units, the officials said, are poorly equipped because most of the modern arms and hardware donated by the United States and other Western nations go to elite units led by the president's close family members, which are primarily tasked with protecting Saleh's 32-year rule against rivals.